Line-ditching apps

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The new app eet is reinventing restaurant bookings for the instant-gratification era.

Booking tables online is second nature to today’s diners. Now, the new app eet is bringing the process into the instant-gratification era, letting users know exactly when tables are free in real time.

Launched in January 2015 in London, eet uses sensors and monitors in participating restaurants to register sound levels, humidity, temperature and air pressure. This allows the app to determine how crowded a space is and whether any tables are open for new diners, and convey this information using a color-coded system.

Developed by MenuSpring Ltd., eet has signed up close to 150 restaurants so far. With plans to expand around the United Kingdom and into bars and clubs over the next several months, the app is part of a fundamental change affecting not only the dining experience but also the hospitality industry as a whole.

Eet app

As revealed our Mobile Device as the Everything Hub trend in our 10 Years of 10 Trends report, today’s consumers are impulsive and impatient, and they demand instant access to goods and services through their mobile phones. Apps like eet cater directly to these demanding spontaneity-seekers. They don’t want to be required to make a reservation weeks in advance, and they don’t want to visit a restaurant to see if it is crowded or if it has the right feel for them—they want to know before they leave the house.

Eet also reflects the expanding capabilities and falling cost of sensors, a trend that could revolutionize the leisure category. No longer held captive in lines at restaurants, museums or amusement parks, consumers will have less incentive to commit to particular establishments, and these businesses will have to work harder to keep them interested.

Many outlets will find that real-time feedback and instant rewards will help them maintain an edge over establishments using an old-fashioned queue system.

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